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Rise of witchcraft in europe
Controversies on the Salem witch trials
Influences during the Salem witch trials
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I really enjoyed how Kieckhefer had introduced witchcraft and magic to us. In the first few chapters, he presented to us what magic is, where the term originated from, and the various types of magic that was used in the medieval Europe. By doing this, Kieckhefer help us familiarize ourselves with the concept of magic, because beforehand, I did not know that such a large amount of different kind of magic existed. The history and background provided in each chapter by Kieckhefer also gave us a good understanding how witchcraft have received the bad reputation that we often hear of today. From the optional article, I find the story of Anna Schmeig to be very disturbing. She was accused simply because she was handing out cakes that tasted foul.
First I want to say that I was a little hesitant in choosing this book. The saying that “you can’t judge a book by its cover” certainly holds true for this book. When seeing the size of the book, I thought that there was no way I would be able to read this book in ten days. The cover shows what I thought was a hot air balloon. The first connection I made with the book were from the images on the cover. I visualized images of Wizard of Oz before I even opened to the first page. As I read the book and viewed its spectacular illustrations, I became mesmerized by its story and found it hard to put the book down. I read the book in less than three nights. . While reading this book, I found myself describing what I was seeing in the pictures with my wife. She joined in to tell her part of the story. This made reading the book fun. My wife thought I was insane for actually reading it aloud to her. It turned out to be our own interactive read aloud between the two of us. This made for great practice for what I learned through class videos and experiences.
Theim, Jon. "The Textualization of the Reader in Magical Realist Fiction." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 235-247.
Witchcraft had always fascinated many people and been a very controversial topic in North America during (seventeenth) 17th century. Many People believe that witchcraft implies the ability to injure or using supernatural power to harm others. People believed that a witch represents dark side of female present and were more likely to embrace witchcraft than men. There are still real witches among us in the Utah whom believe that witchcraft is the oldest religion dealing with the occult. However the popular conception of a witch has not changed at least since the seventeenth century; they still caused panic, fear and variety of other emotions in people…………………….
My overall opinion of this book is good I really liked it and recommend it to anyone. It is a good book to read and it keep you interested throughout the whole book.
My second example from The Salem Witch trials is Mary she tries to be a goody two shoe about almost everything but she to turns out to be a liar along with everyone else. Mary lies when she says “you 're the devil 's man Proctor” she to is actually lying after she realizes that everyone is starting to think that she is a culprit in the court and that she may be getting charged so she then decided to blame proctor to save herself and to ensure she gets away clean and clear. Mary also lies many other times throughout the crucible all in ways that she really didn 't need to lie up until the very end when everyone was being tried in court. My final example of dishonesty is Elizabeth proctor a woman famous for her honesty and absence of mistakes throughout her entire life in salem. Elizabeth has been notorious for being a good example lady in salem and a very kind person also. She also was looked up to by many but as the the trails unfold she to falls victim to dishonesty. “ My husband- is a goodly man, sir. ("Then he did not turn from you. Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John
The Wiccan religion is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States as well one of the most misunderstood due to the controversies surrounding its history and mystery shrouding its beliefs and doctrines. Due to a series of popular TV series that have shown Witchcraft in a positive light, such as Sabrina, the Teen-aged Witch and Charmed, the popularity of Wicca has grown, especially amongst teenagers; but sadly this popularity has not been partnered with a growth in understanding and respect (Kaminer). Although Wicca offers a nature-oriented, egalitarian belief system with a rich collection of customs and rituals, ignorance and historically-rooted misconceptions still dominate public opinion.
I liked that this book told the classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel from the witch’s point of view. I liked how the author gave insight into the witch’s past which helped to justify the witch’s actions.
“A nice warm shower, a cup of tea, and a caring ear may be all you need to warm your heart”. Charles Glassman’s quote was exemplified beautifully in the poem “Common Magic” by Bronwen Wallace. The piece took readers through a series of everyday events, explaining how each seemingly meaningless moment contained it’s own kind of magic. Through the use of oxymoron, imagery and characters, Wallace developed the theme that simple pleasures are fleeting and a fulfilled life involves t`21aking time to appreciate everything.
Religious influence, the manipulation of fear, and the frightening aspects of witchcraft all are very influential to the popular belief of witchcraft during this time period. The popularity of witchcraft in this time period is important because it has shown how in the past when there is no logical explanation they would automatically blame Satan and say it was Satan’s doing. It also shows that history repeats itself because during the Cold War many individuals were accused of being communist even though there was no hard evidence proving this accusation; however, out of fear people will still be convicted, just like during the witch trials. Moreover, witch trials were not only influenced by many things but they have been influential; therefore, showing that they influenced things in our time
In the Malleus Maleficarum, Sprenger and Kramer’s basic argument about the origins of witchcraft is that witchcraft is found chiefly in women due to several reasons that focus on characteristics of women. Sprenger and Kramer argue that witchcraft in women is more probable because women were very naïve and impressionable, carnal lust is never satisfied in women, and they are of lower intelligence and weaker memories than men.
Overall this book was very informative on the entire Salem Witch Trial story from the initial causes, to proceedings and how the people handled the situation. Starkey’s use of quotes from actual proceedings was very useful. The trials will forever be a part of United States history that people will remember for years to come as some of the darker, more trying times.
Overall, I enjoyed the story because it was facile to comprehend as well as it was consistently enthralling to me. It never had a dull moment and it was fun to read about a town that isn’t of the traditional setting. It had a background containing many legends and old stories
Faris, Wendy B. Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2004. 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. 21
In this essay, I will be exploring the relationship between rationality and witchcraft and magic, and will further explore rationality as a factor of knowledge. Rationality from the Latin ‘rationari’ meaning to ‘think’ or ‘calculate’ is a significant concept in Western philosophy, born out of the Enlightenment. During the 17th and 18th centuries, many philosophers began to emphasise the use of reason as the best method of learning objective truth. Pioneers in this field include Descartes and Locke. This was also a time when science came to the forefront of Western thought, seen as the embodiment of rationality.
This essay explores the research question “In what ways does the use of supernatural elements in literature serve to reflect the nature of humanity?” and focuses on fairy tales, Hamlet, and Macbeth. It begins by outlining and examining the role of supernatural elements in promoting struggles between both the characters and groups within the plot. It then proceeds to showcase how using these elements to create struggles within the plot helps the author to outline the societal struggles of his or her time period within the work of literature. This essay then goes on to consider how and why the use of supernatural elements plays a role in a literary work’s adaptability over time and region. From there, this essay explores how important supernatural elements are in making the stories that they are a part of more intricate and interesting. The role of supernatural elements in aiding character development and the role of certain characters within the plot is examined afterwards.